Part of the Spirits Mastery school. Class 4 of 6.
The capability: you can replace a product you do not carry by matching what it was doing rather than what it was called.
Prerequisites: Modules 19, 20, 22, 23, 34.
The practice
Take ten requests for products the bar does not carry and for each one, ask the question first: what do you like about it?
Then match on the attribute they named — smooth means lower proof and a wheated or integrated profile; spicy means rye; "I drink it in an Old Fashioned" means something that stands up to sugar and bitters.
Then pour a small taste of two options rather than committing a glass.
And run the same exercise on a spec substitution: a product is unavailable — what job was it doing, and what else can do that job?
The reference
The guest's own verdict, which is the only one that matters here.
What you are building
The reflex to ask rather than to match on category, price, or age — which are three attributes that do not carry the information, per Module 19.
And the structural version: a substitution is a role question, per Module 34. A bartender who knows the recipe can only match the product; one who knows the structure can match the function.
Verification and boundary
Track the acceptance rate on recommendations made with the question against those made without it.
Boundary: TABC governs service.